Implement international human rights standards: EU raps China

Phayul[Friday, June 17, 2011 12:30]

Armed Chinese soldiers walk past a monk during their patrol in Lhasa, Tibet.(Reuters) In a dialogue on human rights said to have been conducted in a “free and frank atmosphere”, the European Union (EU) expressed concerns over the implementation of international human rights standards in China and how to translate them into domestic practice. The dialogue was held under the aegis of the EU-China Dialogue on Human Rights in Beijing on June 16 with Jim Moran, Director for Asia at the European External Action Service of the EU representing EU and Chen Xu, Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China leading the Chinese delegation. In a release issued after the dialogue, the EU said that it sought further information about reports of torture of people in detention and expressed concerns about the use of forced disappearances and extra-legal detentions while putting special emphasis on the rights of the minorities including Tibetans. “The two sides reviewed recent developments in human rights and had an in-depth discussion on the rights of minorities … The EU called on the Chinese authorities to provide full information on the fate and whereabouts of the persons who have disappeared from Kirti Monastery”, the statement said. The release also noted extensive discussions on the exercise of freedom of religious belief and practice, the rule of law, freedom of the press, the protection of human rights lawyers and defenders, and the importance of an independent judiciary. This was the 30th round of the bi-annual EU-China Dialogue on Human Rights which began in 1995. China, furious over the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo, had cancelled the dialogue scheduled for December last year.